Sound and Autoplaying Videos

Why don’t my videos autoplay with sound?

You may have noticed that videos autoplay muted in the Chrome and Safari browsers. Google and Apple both recently changed how their software handles autoplaying videos.

Which browsers support autoplaying video with sound?

According to the new autoplay specifications, autoplaying videos on IOS, Safari, Chrome, and Android must start out muted. This policy is controlled by the browser manufacturers and all video hosting services must adhere to it.

Example of an Autoplaying Video

The video below is set to autoplay, and you can try viewing it in different browsers to see how their different policies take effect. In Chrome and Safari this video will be muted, but in Firefox it will autoplay with sound.

NOTE: Chrome will rely on your viewer’s Media Engagement Index to decide if it will autoplay a video with sound or not. Chrome calculates a media engagement score which is highest on sites where media is played on a regular basis. When it is high enough, media playback is allowed to autoplay with sound on desktop only.